How a luxury Fiji holiday and a Thermomix ruined NAB boss's weekend

By Sarah Danckert & Nick McKenzie

Perks for executives are not uncommon in the banking sector, but as National Australia Bank's Andrew Thorburn now knows a trip to Fiji and a Thermomix can cause all sorts of headaches.

As revealed by Fairfax Media this week, Thorburn took a luxury holiday to a private island in Fiji and a flashy household appliance arranged through a company under police investigation over accusations it bribed his chief of staff to win contracts from the bank.

NAB confirmed on Thursday that CEO Andrew Thorburn had made unintentional breaches of group policy in relation to the Fiji trip and the Thermomix.Credit:Jessica Hromas

Thorburn’s gifts are allegedly part of a wider fraud committed against the bank that involved his chief-of-staff Rosemary Rogers and an external events company, the Human Group, that provided the bank with some of these perks.

NAB confirmed to Fairfax Media on Thursday and to the market on Friday that Thorburn had made inadvertent breaches of the company’s policy in relation to the gift.

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It was already uncomfortable for Thorburn to have someone so close to him implicated in an alleged scam but for him to now have personally been part of it – even unwittingly – is excruciatingly difficult.

“People are stunned, just stunned. I can only imagine what Ken Henry thinks,” a source said, referring to NAB’s chairman who is the former Treasury Secretary.

NAB’s board has backed Thorburn, telling Fairfax Media on Thursday: “These matters have been resolved and closed to the board’s satisfaction.”

Henry told investors on Friday when handing down the company’s annual report that he expected Thorburn to continue to the lead the bank’s executive leadership team.

What has not been resolved is the NSW police investigation into Human Group and its allegedly fraudulent charging of invoices to the bank.

The royal commission may yet ask its own questions of Thorburn. If it does, they are likely to be aimed at assessing if Thorburn failed to ask obvious questions including around the price he paid for his trip to one of the most extravagant resorts in the world.

As revealed by Fairfax Media on Friday, NSW police have uncovered information that Thorburn’s former chief of staff, Rogers, organised the trip and a Thermomix kitchen appliance using the Human Group.

Sources familiar with the case say the firm is suspected of issuing invoices to NAB to make the bank cover the costs of Thorburn's trip to a resort where the rooms cost between $6000 and $45,000 per night, and a Thermomix worth about $2000.

Over the years NAB’s executives have relished the opportunity for extravagant holidays as part of the package of perks that includes cheaper deals on NAB products and million dollar bonuses.

Those holidays have included getaways in plush retreats in California and luxury weekend getaways at some of the best boutique resorts in Victoria and Sydney.

While front line sales staff at NAB can accrue points to earn access to more modest perks and members of NAB staff club can access public transport discounts among other treats, the luxury holidays were largely the domain of NAB’s C-Suite.

The trips and other perks handed out to NAB’s top brass were largely handled and arranged by Rogers.

Unlike other executive assistant roles, Rogers held the keys to accessing not only the best perks but wielded incredible power within the bank having authority to approve contracts running into the millions of dollars.

Some of those contracts were sourced from the Human Group -- a little known Sydney company that is at the centre of the police investigation. Neither Rogers nor any representative from the Human Group has been charged and all involved might still be found to have not engaged in any wrongdoing. Thorburn has not been accused of any wrongdoing as part of the investigation.

Rogers, who sat in a desk next to Thorburn’s in NAB’s open plan offices, left the bank in December after a whistleblower complaint sparked a major investigation within the bank into the Human Group’s contracts.

Five months later the married mother of two, who had been the executive assistant to former NAB boss Cameron Clyne and his predecessor John Stewart, would be drawn into a large-scale police investigation.

On April 10, NSW Police raided three properties linked to the Human Group, as shocked staff at the events company looked on. The raids and the revelation of Rogers suspected involvement – inadvertent or otherwise – caused great distress to Thorburn, according to comment he made at the time.

Soon attention turned to the property portfolio amassed by people accused of being a part of the alleged fraud, including Rogers’ purchase of a large home in the trendy Melbourne suburb of Williamstown in the months ahead of her departure.

The mortgage on the $3.8 million property is from NAB, perhaps a perk earned by the former chief of staff through her standard employee Star points program.

For now, Thorburn is dealing with an increasingly tough situation at the bank.

Only one month ago he told a Parliamentary hearing that NAB had investigated 1,215 staff for conduct in the past year for breaches.

“I don't think there will be many in that group that will be very senior people, because it's behaviour and you expect that, when people get to very senior levels, they know the code of conduct and they live by it,” Thorburn said at the time.

He added the staff found to have breached the policy either had their bonuses cut or had departed the bank.

On Friday, Thorburn’s own pay was slashed by $2 million, with the board citing the reputational impacts of the royal commission and Thorburn’s inadvertent breaches of policy.

Nick McKenzie is an investigative reporter for The Age. He's won seven Walkley awards and covers politics, business, foreign affairs and defence, human rights issues, the criminal justice system and social affairs.